CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE they will be repealed as soon as the conditions of equal opportunity and treatment are realised. The CRM noted that several avant garde parties had inscribed the issue of quotas or fixed ceilings in their statutes or programmes. 334. The CRM noted the progress recorded in the area of institutional mechanisms for the promotion of women, notably the appointment of a Deputy Minister for the Promotion of the Family and the Condition of Women, and the creation and establishment of a National Council of Women and the Family. The CRM nonetheless notes that this governmental structure charged with ensuring the implementation of the national strategy on the promotion of women‟s rights has been placed under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Health and is thus not an independent ministry. This lack of autonomy was highlighted by many of the persons interviewed during the course of the CRM, notably at the meeting with members of female civil society. Many of them called for a completely separate ministerial department charged with the promotion of women and the family, with a clear mandate and the necessary political influence, human and financial resources, and competencies and capacities required to fulfil its tasks. The CRM noted the absence of a national policy committing all stakeholders and sectoral departments to the integration of gender into their policies and programmes. Another point worth noting relates to the poor understanding of the concept of gender at the different levels, whether in central government or the wilayas. iii. Recommendations 335. The APR Panel would like to recommend that: 1. The government find the ways and means to: ratify the supplementary Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples‟ Rights, as well as the optional Protocol on the CEDAW, and to lift reservations on the CEDAW; proceed with a global re-examination of national legislation in order to ensure that it conforms fully with the principles and provisions of the CEDAW, and to adopt a specific law that punishes violence within the family; adopt a national gender policy that will provide a reference framework and act as a guideline to all sectors of development; establish an autonomous ministry responsible for women and the family, with sufficient human and financial resources to enable it to perform its mission; political parties to ensure that women do have a presence in elected and non-elected public office in the same proportions and at the same level as men …”. 111